Conspiracy of the Dead
by KeishiHideki
Summary: Ashelia lost everything. Now it is time to get her revenge. AU, Modern day setting High School, Ashe POV  In-Progress! T for now!
1. Prolouge

_**This is my Final Fantasy XII fanfic! **_

_**I do not own Final Fantasy, but if I did…Weeeell…**_

_**Enjoy!~**_

Conspiracy of the Dead

Prolouge

Running, running. I could hear my breath, coming out hard and rough, my throat aching for water. Yet I could not stop. If I stopped running, it would mean certain death.

Running, running. My feet were sore and bloody, I could feel the occasional slip of the foot on the smooth tile floor of the facility.

Running, running. Until I lose my balance and fall, smashing my face, blood now flowing freely from my nose. I scramble to my feet.

I can hear them coming.

I can hear them coming to take me back to that horrible cell, that horrible cell I have been in for the past 5 years. Barely any food or water to get by, sessions in the torture chamber. They had the most inventative ways to torture people. My personal favorite was covering my mouth with a washcloth and pouring water onto it.

Have you ever felt like you were drowning?

Has it ever happened to you over and over again until you fell unconscious?

Have you had your hair pulled to the point of a bloody scalp? Have you been raped?

Have you been through what I have?

Honestly I do not think so.

So here I am now, running for my life. I can not hide, they see me wherever I go, not like the bloody footprints helped much. I see myself in the glass windows, I see other people like me through the glass windows. We all look the same. Skin and bones, drawn faces, long unwashed hair. I feel my heart wrench in pain as I know I can not save them, not yet, I must escape alone.

And I know their hearts wrench for they know if I am caught, there will be no escape, I will be killed.

I see it now, the light at the end of this tunnel.

A window, a window heading to the sea.

If I am to die, it will be as I choose.

Running, running, I madly dash for the window.

Running, running, I jump.

Falling, falling, a cold liquid dark envelopes me, and I know no more.

…

**Sorry it's so short! I can't make more of this escape than there is, but I promise the other chapters will be longer!**

**~Keishi**


	2. New Beginnings

Disclaimer!:** I DO NOT OWN FF12 OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS BLAHBLAH.**

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

I was having that dream again, that same dream of running. My alarm clock buzzer went off as soon as I hit the water. I jumped up, soaked in sweat, the cold morning air causing goose bumps on my now exposed skin. The clock read 6:00 AM. I always woke up this early, though today was different. Today was special. It signified a new beginning for me.

My name is Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca, daughter of the late Raminas Dalmasca, founder and former president of Dalmasca Incorporated. A company dedicated to the good of the Rabanastre and the people in it. It is an environmentally friendly company, funding most of the events and schools in Rabanastre, supporting the government, and supplying power to most of the city and beyond.

Rabanastre, the city I grew up in. As I look out my window into the distance and see the state the city has fallen into….It has been six years, six lonely years. Rabanastre has become a slum compared to the great city it once was. Power is not cheap anymore, not since that day.

I sighed as memories flooded back, screams, my father begging for her release. After all the years of abuse, that was most of what I remembered. In my memories, the city seemed golden, almost like heaven. And I had heard people describe it as so when they came to the city. Rabanastre, "The City of Gold." They say if you looked at it from the sky at night, it glowed, no matter how far away you were.

Nowadays, you see nothing. The city had become dull and gray place of poverty and crime. I was almost mugged twice on my way to his small attic. They must have seen the wild look in my eyes, my ragged white shirt, the bloody bandages on my feet, my long matted hair. I was more than afraid, but I stood my ground until they left. I made my way down the alleyway, and into this attic, the only part of my childhood left.

It was the small attic of an abandoned shack, behind huge buildings and in the crumbling ruins of the true slums of Rabanastre. This was my childhood getaway. My betrothed and I used to play here, so many years ago. I ran away to this sanctuary when the scary businessmen who had worked trades with my father came to town. I had canned food hidden in here, a mattress, and a little money. As a child I had always imagined myself running away here if anything happened, and when I grew up I would live here.

When I was little this was glamorous.

I used the money for food, water, and some clothes, very cheap ones, and then the money was gone. Today would be the start of my new life. Namely, my new job.

I applied to every single place I could while I was shopping, and one place hired me right away. A small café in the center of the city. It was called Star Café, a Zodiac based café. It was a little place, outshined by the big time places such as Dunk 'yer Dougnuts and Dew Doughnuts, Honey. I applied to those places too, but the woman looked at me as if I had three heads. Must have been my Hall-Mart clothes and long messy hair. Otherwise, even I thought myself as at least pretty. I guess your clothes make you nowadays in Rabanastre.

I stood in front of the broken, old, mirror, my hair was down past my bum, and my face was sunken in with hunger. I had lost the little bit of figure I had in those years, and my eyes had black rings around them. No wonder she had looked at me strange, I was indeed a shadow of my former self. I grabbed a shard of broken glass and held it in front of myself. I had to do something about this.

So I cut it all off, all the hair. Well, most of it. The finished result was really, really, choppy. Like free haircut day in the slums choppy, but in a way, yes, it was free hair cut in the slums day. I was in the slums, and I did it for free. My new haircut let my hair go a bit below my chin, and my bangs swept off to the side, showing my face, unfortunately. Luckily, the café was a dark place.

I pulled on a plain white t-shirt and a short red skirt. I was pulling on some socks while standing and stumbled into the dresser, causing a box to fall off of it, and gold bracelets fell out of said box. I got on my knees and picked them up gentley. My mother's bracelets. I put them on, and looked again into the mirror, they were beautiful, and took some of the attention away from the rest of me.

I finished pulling on some socks and shoes, packed a small bag with snacks, a pocketknife (easily accessible by someone who knew where it was), and a forged ID. I was off to work.

…..

It took a few hours, but I finally got to the cafe. My feet were sore, but tightly bandaged and healing. I walked into the café and looked around for my boss. He was….Not your conventional boss, mind you. He was..A bit on the short side.

"Amalia!"

It didn't register that he had been calling to me until he yelled it. Right, Amalia, my new name. If I went around as 'Ashelia', people would get suspicious. 'Ashelia' is dead, I am Amalia now.

"Oh, hello, Mr. Montblanc. I am not late am I?" I bit my lip, I did not want to make a bad impression.

"Call me Montblanc! You don't have to be so formal, kupo!" Montblanc was what we call a moogle, they are tiny fluffballs, very smart fluffballs. They had all been in charge of transportation when my father was around, we had a lot of moogles working with us, now they are few and far between, they had fled the city for the most part, because they had been targets of muggers because of their size.

"You know, you seem reaaally comfortable around moogles, kupo! Even some of my regulars act funny around me!" He crossed his little arms as he stood on the counter, I walked up to him and smiled.

"There were a lot of moogles where I was from as a kid." It wasn't a lie, I was always around moogles when I was young.

"Really, kupo? Where were you from?" I opened my mouth, my brain trying to form a believable answer, but I was spared that as the bell rang at the door to signal someone coming inside. I walked behind the counter, grabbing what I assumed was the right apron and put it on, standing and waiting for my first order.

The customers were cheerily talking to each other, there were three of them. One was a blond boy, probably a little younger than myself. He had his hands behind his head and was talking to a blond girl, seemingly around his age, and a smaller brunette boy.

"Vaan! You know you shouldn't have done that!" The girl said, already seeming as though the mature one out of the three. Her hairstyle was interesting, two braids coming out of her head. It must have taken a lot of mousse to make them stand out like that.

"Jeez Penelo! They took from Kytes first! Right Kytes?" The blond boy, Vaan was his name, looked down at the brown haired boy, who I assumed was Kytes.

"Well we're gonna be in big trouble now when Migelo finds out! But I guess it was kinda cool how you got it back." Kytes grinned, and I was curious as to what they were talking about, but it wasn't my business, my only business was to serve them whatever they wanted.

"Nice to see you guys, kupo! Did you give Migelo the pastry he ordered? Or did you eat it again, kupo?" Montblanc walked up to the trio and started to talk to them. Part of me wanted to be involved, the other part of me was happy to not associate with them.

"Kytes went to deliver it, but a group of muggers took the package from him!" Penelo said, frowning. "And thenVaan here went there to get them by himself Montblanc!"

"Oh, kupo! How heroic!" Montblanc nodded and Vaan grinned.

"Thanks little guy!"

"But that's not the point!" Penelo cried. "He could have gotten hurt! Migelo says that if he misses anymore school he's in big trouble, and this happened on Friday! Vaan skipped school again."

I wondered what school they were going to as I cleaned some glasses and plates. I looked up as the bell rang again, some people filed in. It was Sunday, so everyone who wasn't working, unlike the losers who were, would come in here to hang out.

"Amalia, will you go out back and pick up the fresh order of coffee grounds from the back, kupo?"

I nodded and went outside to the back of the store, using a hand truck to get bags of coffee grounds into the storeroom and sighed, walking back out into the crowded room and the long line forming.

"Hello, my name is Amalia, how may I help you?"

….

**Chapter 1! I tried to stay in character and incorporate some of the actual story into it :3 I hope you like it!**

**Don't worry, the high school part is coming up, and you'll see a lot more familiar faces and some not-so familiar ones!**

**~Keishi**


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